The Core of Chaos
by SonicTFH
Summary: Something happened, long ago. Something that awakened a great evil, stronger than anything anyone could imagine. Stronger than anything Sonic and co. has ever faced.
1. Episode 1: The Mysterious Super

**. . .**

**"What!?"**

**"You mean..they're all.."**

**. . .**

Sonic jolted awake from his nightmare. He felt the ground through his gloves. Cold and hard, like a prison cell.

"Hmph..You're finally awake." Shadow spoke, laying on the ground next to him..

"Shadow..where are we?" Sonic groaned, feeling his head. He had a massive headache.

"G.U.N Prison island." He'd been here before. But why now?

"Gun..? I thought they-" He was cut-off by a loud bang.

Gunshots and booms could be heard through the walls. Screaming soldiers and GUN workers ran through the hallway in front of the cell, but none bothered to open their cell for them.

A beam of light, or chaos, shot through the ceiling. It nearly hit Shadow, but he saw it coming, dodging out of the way faster than the eye could see. A yellow flash zoomed through the hole made by the beam, hitting the black hedgehog and creating a large opening in the cell barsl.

"AGH-" He was being pushed against the wall.

The wall broke, revealing the outside world. A sunny day outside, despite what was going on.

"Shadow, watch out!" Sonic shouted. The sound of wind and chaos sparking almost drowned out the sound of his cry, but Shadow heard it.

The yellow mobian was creating a ball of chaos in one hand, holding Shadow by the neck in the other. Shadow planted his feet on the Mobian's chest, and his shoes jetted out a burst of fire. The yellow mobian let go of Shadow, and flew back in pain. He glowed brighter, he was angry at that attack.

The glowing appearance and great chaotic prowess gave away the mobian's secret. He was transformed into a super hedgehog.

Shadow burst back into the cell through the newly made hole, but slid back before he could get close to the strange mobian.

"What-The-Hell!?" Shadow cursed as he slid back. Sonic was standing by now, and in a fighting stance.

"We can't fight him like this!" Sonic knew how strong the super form was, and he wasn't planning on going toe-to-toe with it yet.

"Didn't you see what just happened? He was in pain!" Shadow shouted at Sonic.

Sonic was about to respond, when a blast of chaos suddenly hit him square in the chest.

**. . .**

**"Stop! You can't do this!" A female voice shouted.**

**"I can, and I will." There were footsteps, like someone climbing stairs.**

**"I will be the first to experience the ultimate power of chaos." **

_**Sonic recognized the sounds happening now.**_

_**Someone was transforming into their super form. He could barely see it, as if he was watching through sleeping eyes. A white hedgehog with upward pointing head spines and downward spikes on his back was standing atop the Chaos Emeralds' shrine. A female echidna was watching, staring at the hedgehog in anger, but at the same time, fear. Sonic looked at the hedgehog more, and noticed his attire. He was covered in black bandages, and his eyes were black, with white pupils. He looked as if he was possessed.**_

**"This is CHAOS!" The white hedgehog's spines glowed yellow, becoming even more pointed. His eyes changed, becoming the 'normal' white and red.**

**"No!" The echidna woman screamed, pointing her hands at him.**

_**White spiraling light formed around the echidna's hands. The super hedgehog looked at her, grinning malevolently.**_

**"You dare attack chaos?" The hedgehog created an attack of his own.**

_**Sonic could see clearly now. His vision came back completely just as the attacks collided. Several flashes of white and yellow resulted from the colliding beams. It appeared the echidna was winning, somehow.**_

_**'Stronger than a super form? She's amazing..' Sonic thought to himself.**_

_**The white spiraled beam overpowered the Hedgehog's blast, and hit him. His body began to swirl, and a small crystal formed at the center of it.**_

**When the hedgehog dissipated, all that was left was a black emerald.**


	2. Episode 2: Sealed

**When the hedgehog dissipated, all that was left was a black emerald.**

**. . .**

Sonic could hear the ocean. He opened his eyes, seeing the blue sky above.

'No battle..' He thought to himself. His headache was gone now, but his chest hurt like hell.

He begun to stand, almost falling down. He was on the shore of the prison island. He could see his reflection in the water, but he wish he hadn't looked. His chest was pulsing. Blue energy glowed bright on his chest, in a strange spiral pattern. He touched the pattern, feeling nothing but his chest, as if it wasn't affected at all. He looked around again. The island glew brightly, but that was from the sun. The beach shone happily, as if nothing was going on. He listened to how peacefull the island sounded, and was startled by a sudden grunt. He turned around to see Shadow staggering towards him.

"Shadow.." Sonic stepped forwards.

His shoes were busted, almost completely destroyed. His fur was covered in burns. Sonic could see the same spiral pattern on shadow's chest, but his was red.

"Shadow..what happened?" Sonic walked towards him.

"Idiot..If you had dodged that attack, we could have won.." Shadow said through his teeth.

"I didn't see it coming.." Sonic scratched his head.

"Hm-gck.." His grunt was interrupted by a cough of blood.

"Shadow!" He ran to his rival's side.

"Don't you have healing powers?"

"I can't..use them..for some reason.." Shadow held his hand up. Nothing happened.

"Shadow...just tell me what happened." Sonic was worried about him, but he had to know how he got so badly hurt.

"Hhmph.."

**. . .**

**And they thought they could win.**

**The blue one wasn't hard to take care of. I feel like he would've been a problem if kept conscious, and the seal should stop him for quite a while. So many mobians with the ability to control chaos, much more than before, but they're worthless. That black hedgehog is the only one that could possibly stop me, at this point. But he doesn't have much time left.**

**"CHAOS-" I interrupted him with a kick to the jaw, sending him flying into the wall behind him.**

** If he can't use attacks without shouting their name first, then he's even more worthless than the unconscious one. And if his only attacks use chaos, then-**

**"HAA!" The hedgehog dashed out of the room, and then teleported behind me, keeping his momentum and kicking me in the back of the head.**

**He's harmed my ultimate body twice now.. He'll pay for that.**

**I gave him no time for reaction. I grabbed him by the arm, probably breaking it, and throwing him through the prison roof, right next to the hole I made. How comical.**

**. . .**

Sonic and Shadow began to walk around the island, to the front of the prison. There were dead soldiers everywhere. Sonic was shocked, but Shadow kept walking, albeit limping a bit. The door was sealed shut, but he kicked it open with his good leg.

"So..We're looking for medical stuff, right?" Sonic tried to shake away what he'd just seen, but it'd take more than that.

It was even worse inside. There was obviously a battle here, bits and pieces of GUN mechs were strewn around the room, some bodies lay inside, some out.

**. . .**

**I decided to grab the blue hedgehog, in case he wakes up. I flew through my hole, up and into the sky. I looked around for the black one, and threw the blue hedgehog on the beach where I could see him. A barrage of chaos spears shot at me, but I dodged them easily. That fool, giving away his position so easily-**

**But he wasn't there.**

**"CHAOS CONTROL!"**

**He flew through me repeatedly, spinning me around with the amount of attacks. I could see him smirking everytime he flew at me. He thought he could actually win.**

**The shoes he's wearing.. Those are allowing him to fly. I'll get rid of them.**

**I reeled my hands back, gathering chaos. The hedgehog noticed, and stopped his attack to watch. He might be able to sense large amounts of chaos, as his expression slowly changed from confidence to fear. All he could do is dodge, but he wouldn't be able to.**

**. . .**

"That sucks.." Sonic said as they walked through a hallway.

"It was a one-sided battle." Shadow looked down as he said this, shamed that he had to admit it.

This hallway was fairly clean, a few tools lay on the ground. An open doorway with a half-charred sign that read "Medical -" confirmed that they were headed in the right direction.

**. . .**

** I could see the glow of my attack in his eyes, slowly becoming larger and larger. And then it disappeared. Back into me, as i'd need that energy later. He touched his gloves, taking off the rings around them. Whatever those were, they limited his powers. He was much stronger now, almost even equal to me. His fur glowed blue.**

**Not this time.**

**As he used his time control technique, I used my own. I dashed forwards with my hand pulsing in chaos, and slammed my palm into his chest. His realization came too late, and I began my barrage. The only thing keeping him in the air were my attacks.**

**. . .**

"I fell down to the beach..And.."

"Lost consciousness."

"Geez Shadow..You had a hard time.." They both looked around the emergency room. It was the best place to get bandages.

Shadow opened some cabinets, he mumbled something to himself as he searched.

Sonic looked over Shadow once more.

His jets definitely didn't work anymore, and his gloves were totaled. His fur was rustled, and bits of twigs and leaves were scattered around in it. His inhibitor rings were on now. Sonic guessed he must have regained consciousness before him, and put them back on. His chest was undamaged compared to the rest of his body.

"Pretty rough, huh.."

"If you couldn't hurt him with your inhibitors off, then i wouldn't have lasted long either.." Sonic looked around.

"So you don't know where he went.." He sighed.

"Can you run?"

Shadow took a moment to think. He wrapped bandages around his arms and legs, including his hands and feet. He put on his damaged jet shoes and nodded to Sonic.

"Tails could repair your stuff for you..So we should go to him." Sonic knew his buddy well, the fox never turned down any of his requests.

They walked out of the prison with high hopes.

**. . .**

**Black. The white hedgehog was surrounded by it. An embodiment of his own negativity, an infinite darkness that only seemed to get darker every second. You'd feel sorry for him if you didn't know what he's done in his lifetime. You'd stop feeling sorry if you saw that he was grinning like a madman. Echoing laughter. He'd definitely gone mad.**

**But then, for the first time in forever, he'd seen light. Dark, purple light. It had to be a figment of his imagination, a made-up hallucination to calm himself down, as if it was possible at that point.**

**No.**

**A black and purple hedgehog appeared before him. His eyes glowed red and yellow, various purple crystalline patches on his body glowing purple.**

**"You want to be free." He did.**

**"You want to be free, so that you can kill the ones that put you in here." He did.**

**"You don't care who you kill, as long as they have an ounce of chaos in them, they belong to you." _Yes..._**

_**Free...Free...FREE!**_

_**I'LL BE FREE!**_

The emerald shattered against the ground. A black and grey hedgehog looked down at it. Another pawn in his plan. The first step, completed.


	3. Episode 3: Pawns

**Another pawn in his plan. The first step, completed.**

**. . .**

Tails worked on his plane all day yesterday. It'd been damaged in a run-in with Robotnik, and had to be repaired. Sonic'd up and gone missing, so he had to finish it as fast as possible. Until he heard a knock on his door, he'd been close to falling asleep.

"S-Sonic? Shadow?" He was shocked to see them at the door. They'd been missing all day.

He was even more surprised to see their condition. Sonic was overall fine, but Shadow was hurt bad.

"We don't have a lot of time to explain, but-" Sonic started, but Shadow stopped him.

"Sonic and I got attacked. I need you to repair my gloves and shoes.."

"Geez, straight to the point.." Sonic was slightly annoyed.

"Guys, c-come in!" Tails backed away and walked over to his workshop, which was now a part of his house.

"Let me see your jets, Shadow." Tails started working as soon as he set them on the table.

He talked with Sonic and Shadow as he worked, listening as they explained what happened with more detail.

**. . .**

**A tall glowing yellow hedgehog stood atop the master emerald, looking down at the Red Echidna challenging him.**

**"Who the hell are you!?" Knuckles was confused, and worried, but above all else, enraged.**

**This hedgehog had snuck in without him knowing, and had used the emeralds to transform! And he didn't like the way the hedgehog was looking at him..Evil..**

**"Echidna." Knuckles tightened his fists stance.**

**"You're going to die." The hedgehog shot a blast of chaos from his hand, Knuckles dodging it easily. The echidna charged up the steps of the shrine, and uppercut the hedgehog into the air. He leapt up and hammered him down into the ground, away from the shrine.  
****If he was going to defeat this super hedgehog, he needed to be super himself. The emeralds circled around him, slowly gaining speed. His spines lightened in color, turning a bright pink.**

**. . .**

"That should be it..Phew.." Tails wiped sweat from his face as he turned to them with Shadow's new gloves and shoes.

His gloves looked the same. His shoes had Tails' logo on the inside of the tongue.

Shadow protested, but he knew he could get replacements from GUN.

Sonic looked around the workshop.

"Lots of neat things you have, Tails." He remembered a few of his inventions from battles with Robotnik, and scraps of the Egghead's weaponry.

"You think you could make me some jet shoes too?" Sonic asked.

"Huh? You want a pair too?"

"Yeah...This guy can fly and..Well..I can't." Sonic laughed as he scratched the back of his head, while Shadow just shook his.

"I can create attachments so you can take them off.." Tails began working, since he already had the materials out.

**. . .**

**"HYAAH!" Knuckles flew at incredible speeds into the yellow hedgehog, throwing him into a nearby hill.**

**The hedgehog staggered up, coughing blood onto the ground.**

**"D-Damnit..DAMNIT!" He held his hands above him.**

**"CHAOS BL-" He was interrupted by a swift sucker punch, and then another. And another.**

**Knuckles continued hitting him until he was panting from exhaustion. The hedgehog didn't move, but he stayed in his super form.**

**Knuckles turned to make sure the emeralds were safe, and was hit in the back by a blast of chaos.**

**"You idiot!" He turned and started to punch the hedgehog, but suddenly felt weaker. He had been forced out of his super form, somehow. The hedgehog laughed, and shot a blast at the shrine.**

**Knuckles fell to his knees.**

**. . .**

"So, where's Knuckles?" Sonic asked as he tried out the new attachments. They worked pretty well, almost as good as Shadow's.

"Hm..I haven't seen him in a while."

"That hedgehog was in their super form, they must've used the emeralds." Shadow spoke for once.

"Then that means-"

**. . .**

**'The shrine is gone. Destroyed.. The life's work of an entire people..'**

**'Of my people..'**

**Darkness surrounded the echidna, covering him in a blackish blue aura. He screamed in anger as his pupils dissapeared, replaced by glowing orbs. He felt his power return, he had broken whatever seal kept him from attacking that hedgehog.**

**_That hedgehog_. He stood in fear and confusion as he watched Knuckles transform from the bright pink guardian to the form of darkness before him.**

**He needed to die, that was clear..**

**Knuckles charged at the hedgehog, overpowering him even easier than he did in his super form. Each attack was supercharged with the intent to kill, and he was close to doing it.**

**The hedgehog couldn't react. The echidna was way too fast for him to even see his attacks. There was no way he could win.**

**'How could the echidna transform without the emeralds!?'**

**'The emeralds..He absorbed their power out of anger!'**

**'Sealing won't work..But I'll absorb the dark energy!'**

**. . .**

Sonic, Shadow, and Tails flew to Angel Island, or what was left of it.

The majority of the island was underwater, like an..island. Every structure on the island was in ruins, signs of battle everywhere.

Shadow ran to what used to be the shrine. The pillars were carved by chaos blasts, and there was still energy emanating off of them. Negative energy.  
But it was different from that hedgehog's energy. It was filled with rage, but the hedgehog was always calm, unless he was damaged. Who could have had this much rage?

_Knuckles.._

**. . .**

**Angel Island was falling.**

**The two supers battled, the hedgehog suddenly regaining his confidence, and rising to equal the echidna.**

**They both entered a clash of chaos energy, shooting blades one after another at full force.**

**Neither one was holding back now, they both were fighting to the death.**

**The hedgehog was showing signs of becoming tired, but so was the echidna, to a lesser extent. The clash stopped, as they just floated in the air, staring at eachother.**

**Waiting for the next move.**

**. . .**


	4. Episode 4: Knight

**. . .**

_**"Sha..dow.."**_

_**"Shadow..."**_

_**. . .**_

_What_ was that? Shadow swore he could hear someone calling his name, but he can't locate the source. Telepathically? Knuckles did have that ability..

**"Shadow.."**

**"Be..."**

_What?_

**"**_Behind you._**"**

Shadow turned, hearing the voice of the enemy behind him.

"HE'S HERE!" Shadow shouted, getting kicked in the face milliseconds later.

Sonic appeared immediately, with Tails in fast pursuit.  
They were about to attack, until they saw Knuckles, unconscious in the enemy's arms.

"K-Knuckles.." Sonic growled.

"Don't worry. He's alive." The hedgehog stated matter-of-factually.

Shadow recovered from the hedgehog's kick, and stood, swaying from side to side.

"Who..What are you!?" Tails stepped back as he saw Knuckles. The sight angered him, but also frightened him.

'_If Knuckles couldn't defeat him..I don't stand much of a chance.._'

_'Damnit..' _Shadow cursed himself in his thoughts. Why did he feel so weak? Why was he so weak against some random hedgehog that just appeared one day and beat him and Sonic to the ground?

He's the ultimate lifeform, He can't fail like this!

**"Use..your rage.."**

**"Break..the seal.."**

Shadow removed his inhibitor rings, glowing red and pulsing with chaos. His body felt healed, good as new, and infinitely stronger, compared to before.

Sonic saw the spiral on Shadow's chest shatter. As soon as that happened, his aura skyrocketed.

"Sonic, get Knuckles and run!" Tails shouted as he hovered away quickly.

_'Shadow..I hope you know what you're doing..'_ Sonic thought, as he easily snatched the Echidna from the hedgehog's grasp.

'_That's the strongest I've ever seen you..'_ Sonic was amazed by Shadow's new power. Had he become stronger since the last battle?

His guard was down. He was definitely surprised by the sudden energy boost..But that pattern..It shattered when Shadow powered up..

_'Maybe I can do the same..but without the chaos emeralds..I can't transform..'_ For once, Sonic wished he was more like Shadow.

The hedgehog didn't dare chase Sonic. That would make him lose sight of Shadow, and he didn't want to test the black hedgehog's new power. But..they were running away..

**_"CHAOS.."_**

_No._

**_"BLAST!"  
_****_* * *_**

**_. . .  
_**

**_"They're..really dead.." A small white hedgehog talked to what appeared to be an older frog mobian._**

**_"I'm afraid so, Vern." The frog sighed. He didn't want to be the one to tell him this._**

**_"Who..?" The professor looked up from his work, looking at the boy who, not even seconds ago, was crying his eyes out._**

**_"Who did it?"_**

**_. . ._**

The ground rumbled. The planet seemed to shake as a bright pillar of red shot up out of angel island. It quickly began to expand, into a hemisphere. The chaos within began to obliterate all within the blast, all except for the ground and various large rocks.

Almost as quickly as it began, it stopped. A wasteland compared to the island before. The enemy hedgehog was on the ground, on his knees before the black hedgehog standing in front of him.

Shadow kicked the hedgehog in the face, mimicking the attack he'd suffered before. He seemed to be extremely weakened. Shadow walked towards him again.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" He formed the projectile in his hand, holding it like a sword.

He hit the hedgehog over and over with it, each attack drawing blood.

_"Stop.." _He continued.

_"Please..stop.." _He froze, looking at the hedgehog.

_'Please? The hell? Just who does he think I am!?'_ Shadow looked at the white hedgehog.

**. . .**

**"Vern! Vern!?" Two mobians shouted as they searched the forest frantically.**

**A dark hedgehog walked through the forest with glowing white eyes. A dark blue aura stuck to him closely.**

_**'Chaos..The gods have given me this power so that I can have my revenge..'  
"Chaos...Ha..HAHA...CHAOS!" **_**The dark hedgehog laughed to himself quietly as he looked for his target.**

**The old frog mobian held a flashlight in his hand, followed by a black bat.**

**"Damn that kid..He ran off without saying a word to me.." The frog cursed under his breath.**

**"He's a vengeful kid..I just can't believe he'd go this far." The bat nearly trips on a root, but regains her balance.**

**"Vern! VEERN!"**

**"Professor, calm down!" The bat ran to the frog's side, who was having a coughing fit.  
**

**"I can't let that kid do it.."**

**. . .**

He pointed the spear at the hedgehog. He held his hands in the air, over his face, covering his eyes.

"Please...stop.." He was crying.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles came running back, looking at the destruction as they hurried to Shadow's side. They stared at the white hedgehog.

"Is that..?" Sonic stepped forward, but Knuckles pushed him aside.

"What are you waiting for, Shadow!? Finish him off!" He shouted angrily, growling.

"Stop!" Tails yelled, startling all of them. They looked at him.

"He's not the same! Can't you see?" Tails walked over to him.

"Who are you?" The hedgehog asked.

"You first." Tails had defended him, but he still didn't trust him completely.

"My name's...Vern.."

**. . .**

**"VERN! DAMNIT!" The Professor and the bat stood in front of a burning building. Black flames rose from the burning ruins.**

**A small white hedgehog came walking out, holding something in his hand. The bat and frog ran to him.**

**"Vern, I'm glad you-" The bat stopped. The kid was holding a chaos emerald.**

**"CHAOS SPEAR!" The blast went straight through the bat's chest, killing her.**

**"Damnit boy!" The frog removed the gun on his belt holster and pointed it at the hesitating child.**

**As the boy walked forwards, he tried to tighten his grip, but he was unable to pull the trigger yet. He'd seen him grow up, seen him become a good kid after the death of his parents..**

_**'What has he become?'**_

**A monster.**

**"Why did you do it?" The frog spoke in a threatening tone, but he knew it wouldn't affect the creature in front of him.**

**"Revenge." Somberly, the boy held up his hand.**

**The frog fired every single round in the gun at the boy's head.**

**"You should've saved one for yourself." As he spoke these words, a figure sprouted from his back.**

**. . .**

"Vern?" Tails thought about the name. He'd never heard of it. A white hedgehog too..The only other white hedgehog was..

"Vern, huh?" Sonic walked over.  
"Nice to meet ya."

Shadow and Knuckles were more confused than they were mad, but they were still pretty livid.

"Wasn't this guy just trying to kill us a few minutes ago?" Knuckles didn't understand.

"He might not be all that bad. The super form can do that to people." Sonic knew it didn't always work out, but it confused him too.

_'How could someone have a completely different personality outside of their super form?'_

"So uh..Tell us a bit about yourself." Sonic scratched his head. He was looking forward to fighting, but not some innocent kid.

"My name is..Vern.."  
"I live in Prof. Toga's orphanage.."

_'Toga..that name sounds familiar..' _Tails thought.

"I..don't have any family..or pets..or friends.."  
"I'm all alone.."  
"You won't hurt me..will you?"

Shadow hesitated, but moved the spear away from the boy's face. It dispersed and he turned to the others.  
"This isn't a good idea." He started walking away.  
"I've heard enough of this sob story. If he tries to kill you again, just call me."

Knuckles ran after Shadow.

"Well..I guess you can stay with us now." Sonic grabbed Tails with his arm and shook his hair around.  
"S-Sonic!" They both laughed, and fell over.

Vern felt..For the first time in a long time..

**Happiness.**

**But would it**** last?**


End file.
